A recent trend in home and office environments has been to include an increasing number of computers and computer peripherals in individual work spaces. For example, the work area of a single desk, computer table, work station or other article of furniture may include a telephone, a facsimile machine, a desktop and/or a laptop computer which may be networked to other computers, a modem, a printer, a scanner, a keyboard and mouse, a microphone and speakers, video game controllers, portable electronic devices such as digital cameras, cellular phones and personal digital assistants and simple electrical devices such as lamps, electric pencil sharpeners and calculators. Each of these devices requires an electrical power cord for operation. Many of the devices also require additional cables for communicating voice or data signals. As a result, the typical desk can include a disorganized tangle of cables interconnecting myriad devices and power and data sources.
Moreover, peripheral devices designed to operate with home and office computer systems are typically connected to the rear of the central processing unit (CPU) of a computing system. The CPU provides the appropriate interface and control for these peripheral devices through individualized connections. The entanglement of cables discussed above is thus compounded by the limited spacing at the rear of the CPU and the connectors being closely positioned to each other on the rear of the CPU. The connector locations on the rear of the CPU also do not provide for easy access and installation of the cables connected to peripheral devices. It is common for an installer to have to reach behind the CPU in order to make a desired connection, which is sometimes performed in an awkward orientation. Due to the placement, orientation and weight of the CPU, it is not always a simple matter of moving the CPU to expose the peripheral connectors. Connecting peripheral devices directly to the CPU also typically requires close proximity of the CPU to the workspace because peripheral devices come with a limited amount of interface cabling. In other words, the peripheral devices cannot be used at a large distance from the CPU.
Thus, many workstations and other home and office furniture are available with integrated power strips or other power harnesses. The integrated power strips generally include a power cord and bus for delivering power from a wall-mounted power outlet to several power receptacles to which computers and peripherals can be connected. Because peripherals employed in conjunction with a computing system often require additional voice and data signal cabling, power strips are also available that include voice and/or data receptacles in addition to power receptacles.
However, the increased utility of personal computers coupled with their decreasing costs has also given rise to the need and/or desire to employ multiple computers within a single workstation or desk. For example, in addition to a collection of peripherals typically spaced around a work area on a desk or workstation, a computing system can include a portable “laptop” computer temporarily placed on the desk and employed in parallel with a less portable “desktop” computer having the CPU stored in, on, adjacent or under the desk. Conventionally, the collection of peripherals may be in communication with the desktop computer through a collection of universal serial bus (USB) cables, although it is desirable that the collection of peripherals also be in communication with the portable laptop computer while the laptop computer is temporarily positioned on the desk. However, communicating with the peripherals via the laptop computer requires that each peripheral be disconnected from the stationary desktop computer and reconnected to the laptop computer. Such a procedure is inconvenient and, as discussed above, difficult in view of the orientation of the desktop computer relative to the desk.